THE possibility of China pulling out of the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea has been mentioned in informal discussions among foreign affairs experts and observers but it was the first time that a Chinese scholar said it in public.

Why did it take Armed Forces Chief of Staff Emmanuel Bautista almost a month to tell the President and the Department of Foreign Affairs about the Chinese Coast Guards using water cannons against Filipino fishermen in Bajo de Masinloc?

Alarm bells rang again with the announcement last week by China that Hainan, its southernmost province, was implementing a Fishery Law that requires foreign fishing boats to get its approval when venturing into the South China Sea starting Jan. 1, 2014.

Retired Philippine Navy Commodore Rex Robles had very serious doubts about the concrete blocks in Bajo de Masinloc as foundations for structures similar to what the Chinese did in Mischief Reef when he first saw the photos presented by Defense Secretary Voltaire Gazmin during a budget congressional hearing last Sept. 3.

At the Christmas Party of Metro Pacific Investment Corporation last month at J.W. Marriott Hotel in Hongkong, the company’s chairman, Manuel V. Pangilinan (MVP) made special mention of Foreign Secretary Albert del Rosario saying, “he will soon be rejoining us in the private sector.”